Cop dies saving daughter from falling tree

Threw himself on top of his 9-year-old daughter who was sleeping in the tent while storms raged outside

Daily Mail

JEFF BUSBY CAMPGROUND, Miss. — A police officer sacrificed his life to save his young daughter when a tornado ripped through their campsite in Mississippi, part of the terrifying band of storms devastating the South.

As violent winds tore through their tent, Louisiana police Lieutenant Wade Sharp, 40, flung himself on top of the sleeping nine-year-old to shield her.

Moments later a huge sweetgum tree crashed through the canvas, hitting the lieutenant on the back of the head and killing him instantly, but leaving his daughter unharmed.

It was the final act of heroism in a 19-year career with the force, in which he had been decorated several times for bravery, twice saving lives by endangering his own. Covington Police Chief Richard Palmisano told the Times-Picayune: 'He was a hero all the way through his whole career, and was a hero to the end.